Nighttime Illness
by Areodus
Summary: You get up in the middle of the night, not feeling well, only to receive an interesting and slightly worrying reaction from Izaya. Reader x Izaya. Possible trigger: mention of suicide.


Normally, when you're not feeling well, you still try and force yourself to sleep. However, in order to try and sleep with a killer headache it usually requires you to toss and turn. Izaya, who was sleeping soundly next to you, is a light sleeper, and last thing you want to do was wake him up.

That leads you to where you are now: 3AM with only a light nap that lasted an hour. You went to bed at 9PM: you should be asleep by now. Due to being overtired, you now had nausea mixed with your throbbing headache.

You glanced over at Izaya. Contrary to what he looked like awake, his face looked so peaceful and angelic in his sleep. His mouth was slightly open and he was making light breathing sounds, his body curled up into a ball like a child. No, you did not want to wake him up.

The nausea was at a point, though, where you needed a heating pad or something to help calm it. You quietly shift to the edge of the bed and get up, slipping on your slippers and housecoat as you went. You heard Izaya murmur, shift, then turn over, now slightly awake. You let out a whispering sigh…_'He's such a light sleeper.'_

Making a quick visit to the bathroom, you then creeped your way into the kitchen. You started boiling a pot of water for the heating pad, figuring Izaya would think that you're just making late night tea. Once the water was ready, you carefully poured the pot's boiling fluid into the heating pad, amused at the fact that it sounded a lot like filling a large mug. You carefully and tightly sealed the lid on the heating pad.

You were about to make your way back to bed when you realized how warm you feel. Putting your hand to your forehead, you realized you must have a slight fever. You glance at the patio outside Izaya's apartment. There where some patio chairs and a table set out.

'_Maybe fresh air will help.'_

You carefully opened the patio door, not wanting to wake up Izaya again, and slipped outside. The air was fresh and cool: the smell of night in the air. You made your way to a patio chair next to the table and sat.

You curiously peer over the edge of the railing. Despite the fact that it was 3AM, there were still people walking about. You curiously watched them, their faces glowing behind the light of their phones or streetlights as they walked. You leaned over the edge a little more to try and get a better look at some of them, but the pressure of the railing on your stomach made you wince and sit back in your chair.

"**For a moment there I was afraid you were going to jump."** A husky voice said behind you.

You flinched and let out a gasp, until you realized that the voice belonged to sleepy Izaya.

You turned around and looked at him standing in the patio's doorway. Your eyes widened at the sight. Even when he gets up at night to go to the washroom he fixes his hair a bit, but this time that was definitely not the case. His hair was disheveled and his housecoat hastily tied around his slender waist, his slippers were barely on his feet.

You remembered what he said, then it all clicked: he heard you leave the bedroom quietly, going about your normal late night business you sometimes do, and just as he was falling back to sleep he heard the patio door open, something you never really do since you're normally anxious to get back to the warm bed. He probably thought you were trying to wait until he fell back to sleep to slip out and try and commit suicide, so he bolted out of bed and ran to the patio.

"**Y-you thought I would commit suicide?"** You stuttered. Why would he think that?! You were very content with him right now- **"S-sure the view is cool, and the sensation of falling would be interesting…"** You looked at the ground sensing him flinch at your comment, **"But I would at least have a parachute or something…or, or even those cool flight suits people wear now"** By now you were flapping your arms, demonstrating the people using the flight suit.

By the time you looked up, he had a tired crooked grin on his face, **"Of course, my favourite human wouldn't do that, I was just half-asleep, that's all."** He walked over and stroked your hair.

You would have taken this situation much differently if you had known that a few years ago he went through a phase of having fun manipulating people to commit suicide, making the suicidal people think that he would commit suicide with them.

Of course, you did not know of this, and you smiled tiredly, watching the people below. You felt his eyes leave your face and watch his precious humans. You realized how much you enjoyed his presence, despite the fact that you still felt ill. He stood next to your chair, one hand in your hair and the other in his housecoat's pocket, smiling at his humans below. He was _quiet_, which was rare, but you guessed it was because he was both tired and thinking over what just happened.

Izaya's hand slowly left your hair and made its way to your cheek. He gently stroked it, then lightly lifted up your chin. You looked up at him. By now he's obviously noticed that your skin is paler than normal, and that both your cheeks and nose are flushed, accompanied by dark bags under your eyes.

"**My poor human is sick."** He chided, and you nodded despite it not being a question.

He sighed and playfully tapped your nose, **"I'll go get you some tea."**

You watched him leave, then you rested your sore head on the patio's railing. Your head hurt even more now that it was pondering what Izaya had said. _'Why would he think I would commit suicide?' _You tried to think the way he thinks, but the only thing that you can think of was that you were showing symptoms…_'But I haven't been showing any sympto-'_

You stopped mid-thought as you realized you _have_, in a way, have been showing _similar_ symptoms of depression. Due to the fact that you haven't been feeling well for the past couple of days, you've had much less energy than usual: sleeping more, being lethargic on the couch, talking less. Using less energy, and coupled with feeling ill, leads to eating less. And when you are not feeling well you seem to lack caring about almost all discussion topics. On top of that, you didn't tell him you weren't feeling well because you didn't want to disturb his work or make him worry…not that he'd worry anyways. All of those are similar symptoms to depression, which can cause suicide. Of course, that was not your intention, but for once it seems Izaya had mis-read you and your actions.

The sound of a soft _'clink'_ woke you from your thoughts and you sat up. Izaya had placed a cup of tea on the table next to you. As you took the cup and sipped its contents, Izaya moved one of the other patio chairs next to yours. You noticed that he had a blanket draped over one of his arms, and as he sat down he wrapped it around both of you, keeping out the night chill.

He casually slung one of his arms around your shoulder, **"Nighttime around here truly **_**is**_** fascinating, isn't it?"**

You expected him to continue talking about nonsense like he usually does, but instead he went back to watching his humans below. You took the moment to get a better look at him.

You were aware that he was always good looking, but something about him now made him seem even more appealing. Despite what he lets on, he is actually very self-conscious about his looks - even around you. However, this is the one time he didn't bother with his appearance and let you see him as he is. You really liked seeing this new side of him, and you knew that there are many more different sides of him to be revealed: he's just simply showing them to you at his own slow pace.

His soft, borderline silky, raven-black hair was messy and sticking out at random ends in a complete bedhead look. His rust coloured eyes were still not entirely open, and they held a very calm, thoughtful look to them. From your angle to his side, you were able to see his strong, square jaw-line, which was relaxed. His soft lips did not hold a smile on them, for once, and they were relaxed, the tips pointing downward ever so slightly. His smooth, pale skin looked soft, and you knew he took great care to keep it that way.

Feeling your gaze on him, Izaya glanced over and smirked, **"Enjoying the view?"**

You felt your cheeks grow redder then their sickly colour and looked away, hearing him chuckle. You both sat silently, watching the people below. You realized that Izaya was smiling more, and you thought it was because he was people watching with his "favourite human", but you came to realize that this smile was different.

As if reading your mind, he quietly murmured, **"When my favourite human is happy, I'm happy too."**

Despite all the teasing and things Izaya puts you through on a daily basis, he always makes sure you smile at the end of the day. You never really thought about it, but he almost seemed to live to make you happy. He had very odd ways of amusing you and making you smile, but that is probably because that is his own unique way of showing his love to you. He pretty much never says "I love you" or gives you flowers or sweets, but you imagine from his view it meant more to make you happy than to follow tradition. And Izaya never liked to follow tradition anyway.

You realized that you were smiling yet again, your nausea mostly gone with only a lighter version of your previous headache remaining. You had drank all your tea, and set the cup down on the table. You felt Izaya's free hand move and sit next to your own hand. You placed yours on top of his, gently wrapping your fingers around his thin, but strong, calloused hand.

You leaned your head on his shoulder, neither of you wanting to go back inside, and enjoyed the moment. _'To think that I'd end up people watching again…'_ you mused, not one to give in to Izaya's eccentric habits. But here you were, slowly feeling sleep take over you as you watch the interesting people below, carrying on with their daily lives, unaware of a couple watching them from above.

By the time the sun started to peak over the horizon, both you and Izaya were asleep, blanket wrapped around you both, and leaning on each other, content with each other, and content with life.


End file.
